Anyone know why....

[Nginear]

Hillsborough County is hiring only Paramedics for this new position?
http://www.jobaps.com/hill/sup/images/default.asp

I read somewhere else that it won't necessarily lead to a FireMedic position, that it was intended only for EMS duties.

[reebokHCFR]

unfortunately, hillsborough hires medic only still. they sign a 4 year contract before they can apply for a firemedic position. more details are in the hillsborough county thread in this forum.

[BLSboy]

I am an HCFR Paramedic. If you want to ride Rescue and then work on a Volunteer Engine, doing nothing but EMS work, then feel free to apply. If you want to ever ride suppression apparatus as a Firefighter or FireMedic, then DO NOT APPLY!!
This is will NOT ensure that you can even move over to the suppression side. You will sign a contract stating that you will no be able to move over until 3 years after you get standalone status, which takes a year just to be eligible for.

THIS POSITION IS FOR EMS ONLY. DO NOT APPLY IF YOU WANT TO BE A FIREMAN/FIREMEDIC.

[JThaDu4u09]

Hey, I am looking for some insight on what they r looking for as far as the medic position is concerned. I am a 29 y/o female looking to get into a good dept. 2 years emt-b experience at a residential community in palm beach, BA degree in communications. Does any of this matter in the hiring process? I also want to know if you know how many positions there are. I still need to take my fire team test but have been contemplating whether to apply or not. I would appreciate any advice you may have.

[BLSboy]

Hey, I am looking for some insight on what they r looking for as far as the medic position is concerned. I am a 29 y/o female looking to get into a good dept. 2 years emt-b experience at a residential community in palm beach, BA degree in communications. Does any of this matter in the hiring process? I also want to know if you know how many positions there are. I still need to take my fire team test but have been contemplating whether to apply or not. I would appreciate any advice you may have.

Do you have ALS experience? Prehospital ALS experience. I do not know how many spots are open. I also do nit know when the application process closes. Yes, I do believe that experience matters, but acing the interview really helps. Do you have any desire to be a firefighter?

[JThaDu4u09]

The only als exp i have is 400 clinical hours of work during school. I have been trying to find a position everywhere from hospitals to transport companies and it seems practically impossible. I will attend FA in jan but only because you have to be dual certified in almost all counties in florida. I would rather just be a paramedic but will do what I must to get hired. That is why I want to apply for this position. I know that some counties give precedence to people living within a certain area. Is this true for HCFR? Other places use a point system. I just want to know what I can do to increase my chances for interview. that is also why I ask how many they r hiring. I know that stuart hired last year and they only had 1 position. If there is only a few spots I am trying to make sure it is worth my effort as i have to drive 3.5 hours to take a test and pay for it just to apply. It would be worth the effort if I would get at least to the interview so i am trying to get as much info as possible.

[reebokHCFR]

polk county ems (though that may have recently changed to polk fire), manatee county ems, sunstar-ems.com, lee county ems and amr in various places in the state all hire paramedics. those are just in a small portion of the state I'm familiar with, not to mention hillsborough.
there's no preference on where you live. I think one of the guys blsboy was hired with came from miami or somewhere far down south.
sometimes they email and say how many they're looking to hire, but I haven't seen anything lately. in general though, there aren't many empacct positions. they replace those people when they die or retire, but no new positions are added. on the other hand, not near as many people apply for it because relatively few people want to be a medic only. it's easy imho to get to the interview, just pass the written test with a decent score. blsboy has gone through it more recently than I have, so he may have better info.
good luck.

[JThaDu4u09]

Awesome...thanks for the info. If you by chance hear of a number can you keep me posted? I'll see if blsboy has anything for me. I appreciate ur response.

[BLSboy]

You forgot that I got hired when I was living in Jersey! lol. No, where you live doesn't have an effect of getting hired. How well you score, interview, and your background comes back makes an impact.
I have heard rumors about how many, but I will not post rumors and thoughts, only facts that I know for sure. Once again, this is an EMS position only. You will NOT be doing ANY suppression, should you be hired as an EMPACCT Medic (EMPACCT is our union.)

[tydougherty]

Do you guys know if they are going to be hiring Firefighter/EMT's anytime soon.

[SVTxDUDE]

Do you guys know if they are going to be hiring Firefighter/EMT's anytime soon.

I believe they only hire FF/medics.

[reebokHCFR]

since 1997 we've only hired firefighter/emt's who must complete medic school within two years, or paramedics who must complete fire academy within two years. (not counting the occasional empacct paramedic-only hiring mentioned above in this thread). the talk these days is that we will be hiring firefighter/emt's who will not be required to go to paramedic school. there is some miniscule savings by doing that. (I imagine the unsaid consequence is that if you do go to medic school, you won't be paid as a medic, nor will you be allowed to go through medic orientation as firemedic is not your job class). I do wonder if one of these new hires would be allowed to be promoted to firemedic when the time comes that we need more firemedics. I would hope so, but I wouldn't count on it.
I haven't heard any timeline.

[OC1219]

Hey is HCFR allowing AMR to transport only BLS patients. If so when did HCFR start doing that? I happened to see an video of HCFR working an wreck and saw AMR transporting.

[reebokHCFR]

Hey is HCFR allowing AMR to transport only BLS patients. If so when did HCFR start doing that? I happened to see an video of HCFR working an wreck and saw AMR transporting.

This is way off topic but it happened I guess in the 80's or maybe 90's. Whenever Hillsborough EMS got out of the BLS business. In general, AMR handles west side, Americare east side and Transcare...fills in the gaps I guess, not really sure. Transcare has the mental health transport contracts, so they do a lot of that.
Basically, medical calls are prioritized in one of four ways.
Alpha response is BLS only (non-traumatic back pain, headache for a week, etc.)
Bravo is Engine and BLS unit (traffic crash, fall injury, etc.)
Charlie is Rescue only (abdominal pain, some difficulty breathings, some chest pains{but if there isn't a Rescue in the first alarm area for the call, and there is an engine, the engine will be sent also for a closer unit})
Delta is Engine and Rescue (most chest pain and difficulty breathings, high mechanism traffic crash, etc.)

[BLSboy]

TransCare is the primary provider for City of Tampa, with TransCare 23 and 32 being assigned to HCFR for use.